This was, by no means, her comfort zone. The music was beautiful, as was the ballroom and the people in it. Everything was gorgeous and elegant. And Katyusha Braginskaya didn't belong here at all. Not by a long shot. Everyone here was wealthy and regal. Aristocratic. She was a farm girl masked by an expensive dress. What on earth was she doing here?
"Care for a dance, my lady?" She lifted her gaze from the floor to the tall, masked man before her, hand held out to take her own. Oh yeah, that's how she had gotten here.
/OOO/
The night had been stormy. The time had been late. An hour earlier the young woman had tucked her younger siblings into bed, kissing the tops of their heads lightly. They had wanted her to read them a story, something about times of old and fairytale endings, but she had stuff to do, so politely, she told them another night. Now as she sat in a chair before the roaring fire in the hearth, knitting new winter clothing articles for her brother (For he had had quite a growth spurt in that year.) she could barely hear the knocking on the front door over the cracking wood and the howling wind. But the stranger knocks again, this time being heard. Katyusha warily stands and walks to the door. Who in their right mind would be out in weather like this, at this time too! What if they weren't in their right mind?
"Who's there?" She calls through the wooden door. Loud enough to be heard on the other side and hopefully quietly enough as to not wake the young ones.
"Please, could you let me in?" Comes the muffled reply. "I've lost my way in the storm."
The young woman hesitates a moment before opening the door. She can understand the misery of being lost in squalor. She quickly steps aside to let the man in, and shuts the door quietly behind him. He wears a dark cloak, hood up covering his face.
"Nice place you've got here, kinda small though." The stranger says as he looks around, back still turned to the girl.
"My little brother and sister are asleep, so please if you could keep your voice down, er…Mr….."
"Oh!, right." He says in a quieter voice as he turns to her and pulls his hood down to reveal his face, eyes concealed behind a white mask. He extends a hand. "The name's Sadiq"
She tentatively shakes his hand and he flashes her a big grin that, had she not been so wary of the man and his mask, would have seemed charming.
"Katyusha." She replies. "I'm sorry, I can't offer you more than a place to stay, we don't really have that much ourselves." The man, Sadiq, gives a confused look (She assumes that's what it is, it's hard to tell without clearly seeing his eyes) but then it melts into a small smile.
"No need Miss." He moves and sits in the chair across from the one she had been sitting in earlier and lets the pack he had been carrying fall to the floor. He crosses his legs, rests his head back, makes himself comfortable. Katyusha blinks in bewilderment and takes a deep breath before re-situating herself in her own chair. It's only till morning, right?
"Where are you traveling to? If I may ask?" She picks up her half-finished scarf and continues where she had left off.
"Well….nowhere really. Just sorta out and about.."
"Oh." She hadn't really expected such a vague answer, though maybe she should have, considering that everything about the man seemed vague. "Just decided to take a stroll in the rain?"
He chuckles a bit. "Yeah, something like that."
"Systra?"
The two figures turn to see a boy little peeking his head out from behind a corner. The boy couldn't have been any older than seven.
"Ivan, what are you doing up, did we wake you?" The little one shook his head
"Who is he?" He point to the tall, dark skinned man and giggles. "He looks funny with that mask."
Katyusha blushed at her sibling's bluntness as she stood and motioned him over.
"Brother, this is Sadiq. He's just stopping in for the night." Said man kneeled down so that he was at the same level as the child.
"Merhaba Ivan." He smiles again. "You think my mask is silly?" The boy nodded his head.
"Why do you wear it?"
"Why? Because I'm undercover of course!"
Ivan's eyes widened. "Really? Why?"
Sadiq glanced up at the young woman and gave her a wink. "Well, you have to promise not to tell anyone this…." The boy nods again. "Ok...I am undercover because I'm really… a prince."
"A prince?!"
"Evet, a prince."
"So that's why you wear the mask?"
"Well, If people knew who I was, I'd never get anywhere! I'd get stuck taking pictures and signing things. It would be a big mess, don't you think?"
The boy agrees, a thinking look crossing his face as he yawns "So why are you out here, in the farms?"
Katyusha began ushering the quickly tiring child back to his room.
"Because I'm looking for my princess of course!" To this Ivan smiled, as Katyusha re-tucked him in and kissed his forehead.
"Sleep tight" She whispered before going back to the living room where the masked man still resided.
"I'm so sorry about my little brother being so….." She began but Sadiq waved his hand.
"It's alright, he's a sharp kid."
"You...You're very good with children."
"Yeah...I'd love to have my own someday. But I guess I'd have to find that princess before that could happen."
Katyusha could feel fer face flush a little bit when the man looked up at her and flashed another smile.
They talked a while longer, until the young woman had become fairly confident that, despite the mask, this man calling himself Sadiq, make-believe prince, was no more of a threat to her and her family than, say, a stray dog might be.
"I'm sorry, but if you don't mind I'm going to go to bed." She said as she stood and stretched, her back cracking as she did so. "It's rather late...or early." She went over to a small closet and pulled out a pillow and blanket. "I'm also sorry, but-"
"Don't worry about it." Sadiq stood, walked over and took the pillow and blanket. "Sleep well…and thank you."
Katyusha nodded her acceptance and headed to her own bedroom. When she woke in the morning, the man was gone.
"Kat, where did the prince go?" Ivan asked as he too woke up and came into he living room.
"What prince?" Her younger sister, Natalia, asked as she followed to sit next to her brother by the fire place.
"Big sister had an undercover prince over last night. He's gonna come back and make her a princess!"
"Nuh-uh! Thats ridiculous."
"Is not!"
"Both of you settle down and eat your breakfast." Katyusha said as she placed a bowl of the morning meal in each of their hands.
"I'm telling the truth though! There was a prince. He's gonna make Kat a princess and we're all gonna live in a big castle and everything!"
"Come on Big brother, aren't you to old for fairy tales?"
"Oh just wait, you'll see."
/OOO/
Oh and see they did. You could guess the surprise on both of the girls faces when, later in the day, when the chores have been done and the sun had begun it's decent behind the horizon, they heard a knock upon their door.
"It's the prince!" Ivan cried as he jumped up and raced for the door. Katyusha catching him in his arms before he could reach it.
"I'll get it, ok?"
She walked over to the door, dusted her hands off on her skirt, opened the door and...
"Oh my..."
She never thought the man could look so stunning without the mask. Striking brown eyes alight with youth, energy and intellect. The royal garb helped the look too.
"Presenting his royal highness, Prince Sadiq Adnan."
/OOO/
"Kat? Hullo?"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry..."
"Still not use to all of this, are we?" Sadiq asked as he took his fiance's hand. The dress he had bought her looked absolutely stunning and he couldn't help but admire her in it, cheeks red from embarrassment, not being use to the large balls and lavished occasions.
No, she wasn't, in all honesty she probably never would be. It can be quite the shock when a mysterious masked stranger stops by and just swoops into your life.
/OOO/
"I told you so! I told you so!" Ivan had said happily, jumping up and down in excitement. It was all there. White horse, royal posse, Prince Charming.
"Katyusha," He had taken her hand in his. "Marry me?"
She had felt like fainting, but settled instead on letting a few tears pave their way down her face. It was all to good to much. To much of a little girl's dream come true.
The look on her little sisters face was just as priceless as the one on hers.
/OOO/
"Come on systra, dance with someone else!" Katyusha laughed a bit at her siblings as she herself was led onto the dance floor. They too were wearing new clothes, Natalia had a new bow in her hair, her own short locks held in by a new head band, glittering when the light hit it.
"You know," Sadiq began as he guided his princess across the room, turning in time with the music. "I don't think I could have ever been happier to be stuck out in the rain."
/OOO/
Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing...I've never written for these two, but I ran across a contest on DA and figured it would be a good was to test the waters on this pair. OOC? Probably :P